


A Day For Raen

by fandomine



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Female Apprentice (The Arcana), Gen, Male Apprentice (The Arcana)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 23:56:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19283827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomine/pseuds/fandomine
Summary: Damien takes Raen Rosalind out to a bookstore for her birthday.





	A Day For Raen

"It's ten minutes late."

Raen had never taken public transit before.

"Wait. My mistake. _Fifteen_ minutes late."

 She gulped back nervous agitation.

"Dear, I do hope I didn't get the schedule wrong."

They were alone at the train station, save for the gentle Spring winds. Damien was keeping himself occupied by drumming out _Welcome to the Black Parade_  on the steering wheel. Raen sat rigidly on the passenger's side, looking out through her round glasses, past the smudged window of Damien's vintage car, at the train tracks with a solemn gaze. And then- all too suddenly- a piercing whistle all but shattered the air; it had come from somewhere down the track.

_So soon?_

"Oh! It's here!" Damien kicked open the door, and Raen scrambled out.

"Choo choo!" He looked back. "I bought you your ticket, right?" 

She nodded. "Yes." 

"Ready?"

"Y-yes," she said, nodding again. 

It was one of the few times in her life that Raen Rosalind's life that had ever lied.

* * *

The train itself was fine. Fine, if you were to use the term loosely. It was fine in the way all is fine when approaching the testing site of a particularly important and stressful exam. Your hands are shaky, your palms are sweaty because, well, there was, in fact, nothing to do but hold your breath, close your eyes, and go through with it. Nearly tripping on her Mary Jane's, Raen hoisted herself up onto the stairs which were too high off the platform. She tried not to look back. Then, against her better judgement, she looked over her shoulder at Damien's black, busted car in the parking lot, which was sure to get a ticket since he hadn't paid for the parking spot. She thought about telling him, to suggest that they go back. Thought against it. Then opened her mouth to ask anyway. 

"Maybe we should-" But Damien was already well ahead of her. She had to jog to catch up. 

 _Where to sit?_ she thought. _Where to put my bag? What are those grates on the top for? Are we supposed to check in with the conductor?_ "Everyone please have your tickets out and ready," said a booming voice from nowhere. "If you're using your smartphone, please have that out too."  _What is that even supposed to mean?!_

The floor lurched beneath her. Her breath disappeared as her lungs caught in her throat. "What's happening?"

"The train's moving," said Damien, sitting down and beckoning her along. She bristled, wondering if it was really okay to take up a four-person seat for just the two of them. She supposed he needed it, though, considering his long, needle-y legs. 

She just wasn't used to train rituals. She didn't know if it was real, or if she was just making up all the eyes staring at them. She couldn't help but overthink every little detail, every step and every movement of her limbs. It all came to a climax when the ticket man came.

"Tickets please." 

 _Oh no._ She didn't know what to do. Her hands faltered. She floundered. The ticket man gave her a look. _Oh god._ He was waiting. Thankfully, Damien wedged himself into the situation and took care of it, reaching over her to take her ticket and hand hers over along with his. The ticket man punched a few holes in them, seemingly at random, and gave them back. Damien stuffed them both in his bulging black wallet. 

Before he shuffled away, the ticket man asked politely "Your daughter's first time on the train?" Damien didn't bother to correct him.

He never did.

"I'm not sure why some people mistake us for father and daughter," she said, trying to take her mind off the unsteady movements of the train. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's just... we don't look anything alike."

She was right. Raen had light hair, while Damien's black hair sucked up the very light around them. His nose seemed broken in its crookedness; hers was straight. Her eyes were wide and bright; his were dark and moody and lightly slitted. Not to mention (probably the most obvious tell) her white skin in stark contrast with his. Damien's colour rather resembled that of pale brown tree bark during a damp winter. 

Put together, he was ashy and dark and knotted and broken- and definitely not anything which could have possibly produced her. He smiled crookedly past a grey mouth, and she smiled back with straight teeth and pink lips.

"Lots of inter-racial couples these days," he replied simply, leaning back. "People're less likely to make assumptions in this modern world. For all anybody knows, I'm married to, uh, a short white woman with purple hair and purple eyes, and a dazzling smile." She blushed. "Besides, isn't it just a bit fun to pull a bit of wool over a stranger's eyes?"

She had a feeling this game was more for him, and for something empty in his heart, than for the sake of a little joke. His eyes flitted away. 

She giggled anyway.

It faded, though, when the train jumped over a particularly unsettling bump in the rails. "Will we really be safe in the city?" she asked, blurting out her qualms.

" _Of course_ we will!" Damien looked taken aback. "I wouldn't take you anywhere in which you wouldn't be perfectly, one-hundred-percent safe. Just stay close to me and you'll be fine."

Now, the last time Damien had said something like that, she'd found herself stranded overnight in middle of the woods. Thank god Grimalken had been there. She folded her hands in her lap and looked across the aisle out the window, preparing herself for a long, long ride.

**Author's Note:**

> Raen belongs to miss606writes.tumblr.com


End file.
